I think most newsrooms are more balanced now in terms of the ratio of staff but it’s still a big deal for a woman to be in charge and that shouldn’t be the case.

As the new editor of Channel 5 News, what does your job involve on a day-to-day basis?

The best thing about my job, and this has been the case since I started in the news business, is that every day is different. I might think I have a day of meetings and documents to write and then a huge news story happens and I can roll up my sleeves and get stuck in. Most days kick off with me chairing our morning editorial meeting, where as a team we discuss the stories on our agenda and how we are going to cover them.

As well as ensuring my team make great programmes, I'm also in the senior management at ITN, and some of my time is spent liaising with my colleagues at ITV and C4 News and developing joint strategies for wider issues.

And since I got this job, I've promised to give Five News a bigger voice, so I have a fair few lunches and meetings with everyone from politicians to the communications teams in big businesses such as Sainsbury's and RBS to help build our reputation and our contacts.

Having started the day kicking off the programme making process with the team, I enjoy gathering them together at the end of the day to discuss what worked well, what we could have done better and to hear from everyone involved about how the day has gone.

What has been the high point of your career so far?

Becoming editor of a network newsroom has to be my biggest career achievement. But the best day of my career so far has to be the day of the Royal Wedding in 2010. When William and Kate announced their engagement I suggested to my boss at ITV News that we should cover the wedding by marrying the authority of our news presenters with the warmth of some of ITV's big names. A few weeks later I was told Phillip Schofield and Julie Etchingham would be the presenting team and I was to be the programme editor.

It was a huge leap of faith by ITN and ITV to let me do it as I hadn't been a programme editor for long, but the day itself was a huge success with great press reviews. The live programme wasn't just shown here but broadcast all around the world. We were on air with no breaks for seven and a half hours and I loved every second of it. It was nearly as good as my own wedding day.

The media, particularly television, has a bit of a reputation as a difficult place to find a good work/life balance. How have you managed to cope with this in your career?

I wanted to be a journalist from the age of eight and used to write a newspaper once a week for my family. I've always known that the media is an industry that you have to have a real passion for. News ignores all diaries and has often ruined plans for dinner parties, family birthdays and weddings. When I was single and young that didn't really matter, but it is definitely harder once you have children because letting them down is more difficult. I make sure that I'm at sports day, school assemblies and the other important events in my children's lives and that's become easier as I have progressed in my career. I'm not at all ashamed about my family commitments.

Being a wife and a mother is just part of who I am. I've been promoted after every period of maternity leave, even after taking a year out, and I know I am a strong role model for the younger women that I work with. The work/life balance is just that: a balance. Sometimes it swings one way, so you correct it. There is no magic solution. You just need strong organisational skills and a great team around you at home and work. I couldn't do this job without the support of my husband and family. And I'm sure any successful man would say the same about his support at home too.

In the past, newsrooms have traditionally been very male-dominated; is this still the case, and if so, is the tide turning?

When I started in newspapers in the late 80s being a woman junior reporter wasn't rare, but the bosses and the senior writers were always male. When I went into TV news, there seemed to be more women in higher positions but they were usually single women without children.

I think most newsrooms are more balanced now in terms of the ratio of staff but it's still a big deal for a woman to be in charge and that shouldn't be the case. I'm the second female leader of a network newsroom (the first was my old boss Deborah Turness who is now the first female president of a US news network).

It seems that society is still coming to terms with women in leadership: just look at the campaign we reported on the other day to ban women being called "bossy" when they assert themselves. Men at the top of their profession are forthright and strong, we're seen as "scary" when we talk tough. So the tide has turned – but there's some way to go.

You wrote a piece for Broadcast Magazine talking about the 'optimism of youth' and the positive attitudes shown by the next generation of women. How do you think we can tap into that and try to inject some optimism back into our working lives?

I was inspired for that article by the young women I met on the cusp of their careers who just didn't think their sex would in any way impede them to achieve whatever they wanted. They simply expect equality. And that's an attitude that's continued. My daughter got really cross at school when only boys were chosen for the cricket team. When I said I thought cricket was a male sport she was really indignant. She felt she had every right to equal consideration.

I think as women we have to encourage that thinking in our daughters and help them believe they can be whatever they want. I've got two female members of staff about to go on maternity leave. Both are really concerned for their careers. My message to them is that anything is possible: the glass ceiling is only in your mind.

It would also be nice if some bits of the press celebrated working women rather than blaming them for society's ills.

What one piece of advice would you give to women hoping to follow in your career footsteps?

Don't let anyone ever say you can't do something. And if they do, prove them wrong. ​